Accepting the Relentless Passage of Time: A Video Reflection on Where Time Goes

AVAlexander Volchek

But you can't stop time for yourself. Difficulties at work, difficulties with money, difficulties in your personal circumstances. This isn't a simple video. This video isn't simple; it's difficult to take in. It isn't for a mass audience. That doesn't mean the solution isn't for everyone. A person is unlikely to want to make this decision for themselves. People live in a very interesting way. They live in intense bustle, rushing, uncertain about today, uncertain about what tomorrow will bring. They move forward like a machine, run forward. They think some state will come when they'll be able to stop. And at that moment, when they stop, they'll be able to think, draw conclusions, decide what will happen in the future. They'll be able to resolve some of their issues. On the one hand, a person lives in a state of complete lack of freedom, a state where they simply don't understand what's happening. On the other, they have a sense that somewhere up ahead, finally, finally the moment will come, that very moment when they'll reach a state of freedom. In fact, they have a sense that they'll be able to stop, that they can't stop now because they have daily work, they have children, they're constantly racing to help their husband or wife.

So they absolutely have to keep earning money right now, all the time, or they won't be able to eat; they have to do things, or the time ahead will slip away. And somewhere ahead, there's a point when they'll stop. But there's an important thing here: a trap, an enormous trap. A trap that's almost impossible to get past in this situation. It's that you can't stop time. There is no way to stop time. Obviously, you can't stop time unfolding around you, but you can't stop time for yourself either. A person is always living, including at night. Time keeps moving forward, whatever happens. Even if we sit in a certain silence, there will still be movement forward. Even if we're walking alone, there will still be movement forward. Even if we're in a state of meditation, there will still be movement forward. Time will keep moving. It's a very subtle, difficult aspect of perception and understanding. And it leads a person terribly astray, into a trap of their own mind, their own state, and their present experience of living. What do you need to do to stop living in tomorrow? What do you need to do so that, a few years from now, you don't realize that each time you keep postponing the moment, and when the moment arrives when you supposedly should be able to exhale, you push it ahead again?

How can you gain the ability and awareness to tell yourself clearly, and accept, that you won't do this anymore? There's what seems like a good idea, a good phrase saying that you need to be right here and now. Love the present moment of your life, be in a state of present feeling, a certain present acceptance. But if someone has difficulties in life, difficulties at work, difficulties with money, difficulties in their personal circumstances, emotional problems, depressive problems, all these arguments are very particular, because when we're in a bad state, telling ourselves, “I'll be in the here and now,” is practically impossible. Honestly, it will be a kind of illusion of that state. The person won't be in that state. They simply won't. When you start to understand this... This isn't a simple video. This video isn't simple; it's difficult to take in. It isn't for a mass audience. That doesn't mean the solution isn't for everyone. A person is unlikely to want to make this decision for themselves. How could they? First, they have to acknowledge to themselves that their current actions and dreams about the future are illusory. Once they've acknowledged that they're illusory, that they need to enjoy the present moment in life, they see that enjoying the present moment in life isn't so easy after all.

You can spend years in the illusion of enjoying the present moment, and after many years see that you aren't really enjoying the present moment of your life all that much, aren't really in the here and now all that much. Essentially, I've created an illusion for myself that the here and now, too, is somewhere ahead. I've made that very state of here and now into a goal that will arrive someday, and it just never arrives. What do you do about this? And when we analyze these things, there's always a particular layer we're looking at, because there are many layers, a great many layers. Of course, in theory, right at this moment you can reach a certain state of calm, through pleasure, for example. It's enough even to immerse yourself in delicious food, or good music, or a good environment, and somehow neutralize the situation locally. But again, we're not talking about neutralizing your own state here and now, at this moment. We're not talking about how to enter a state of here and now. Because entering a state of here and now is itself a task. And in reality, if I decide right now to enter the here and now, I'll also have to... If I suddenly feel out of harmony while doing so, I'll have to find some pleasure to start with, or substitute some action for this state of here and now, or work on certain forms of concentration.

How can I make the state of here and now present inside me all the time? I wouldn't actually call it a state of here and now. I'd call it a state in which life moves, and you, as a person, are in harmony with that movement. And harmony with that movement isn't about being here and now. Harmony with that movement isn't about feeling good. Harmony with that movement isn't about having pleasure inside. Harmony with that movement isn't about the events you've planned coming to pass. Harmony with that movement is about perceiving life as it is. You understand that everything happening in your life has causes and consequences. And this is your present, unique, always absolutely unique life, which in reality can never be fully analyzed. Only you yourself can fully understand your life. Other people may have fragments of understanding; they may have some awareness of your life. Again, the things I'm telling you now are essentially something for you to revisit after some time, especially if you've watched this far.

In many of my videos, I say that it's very good to rewatch a video after some time, to watch it several times, to watch it in different inner states. In general, it makes sense to watch deep videos in different states. Later, this shows very clearly how different your states of perception are. It's a very interesting point: if you're in a pure state of perception, continually expanded, then when you watch videos like this at different times, you'll perceive them as a whole in a consistent way.

You won't have these different impulsive sides to your perception. First you really love it, then you really dislike it; first you agree, then you disagree. These judgments arise in a state of partial perception. When you watch different videos in different states, and I'm talking now about videos related to human development, it makes sense to rewatch them at different times. If they're deep videos, it makes sense to rewatch them at different times. And this is an interesting indication that you definitely can't stop time. Don't try to do it. It's an illusion. What's more, your entire inner being and your whole psychophysical system know this. They know completely that it can't be done. If you knew it could be done, you would stop right now. You'd stop, calmly and thoughtfully draw conclusions, make certain decisions, trust absolutely any situation around you. You'd calmly tell yourself, “I'll do this now, because time has stopped, and afterward I'll go back to what I was doing.” A great many people ask me for various kinds of advice or receive information. A person still does what they want to do. They always do what they want, always hear what they want to hear.

But that's where real life and a person's uniqueness lie. The question is how to come to terms with this, and not merely come to terms with it, but approach it from a state of freedom, of balance, reverence, happiness, goodness, joy, and pure perception of the space around you. I post many videos like this on my channel. I've decided for myself that my YouTube, Instagram, and various other spaces will always have a broad range of content. I talk about life there, I talk about business, I talk about spiritual development. I talk about a person's individual development, about family, relationships, partnership. I share knowledge, share perception, share energy. Across a broad range. A person can develop across a broad range. Today I was talking with my partner and friend. He's visiting me for a few days. We have a software development company; it's one of my businesses. And he says, “Sasha, does any advice to a person actually work at all?” I tell him, “Of course it works.” He says, “No, but does it work over a long time?” I tell him, “You've already answered your own question.” He says, “Am I right in thinking that one piece of advice doesn't work?” Or, more precisely, he says, “I think.”

He was hardly asking me a question about his own understanding. He was more stating a fact, his personal understanding: “Am I right in thinking it's very hard to achieve that in one go?” In other words, can you watch a video like this and find a solution for yourself? Sometimes you can. Yes, from one video, from one meeting with a person, you can find a solution. But in reality, he's right about one thing: real scaling, a truly broad perception, when you begin to see the patterns of life as it unfolds, to see cause-and-effect relationships much more deeply, is something you can learn and come to perceive over the long term. It takes time, among other things. It also takes broad coverage. For example, when you watch thirty videos on my channel, and at the same time, when you watch them over several years. This applies to any kind of content. Because when you watch a video like this, you're still touching some part of the information. Bit by bit, in different places, this information begins to come together into something and resonate within your spiritual being, within you as a person. Somewhere, something comes together and begins to resonate. And that resonance can be expressed in different states. In some cases, you may gain an insight. I always say: don't strive to find an insight in a video, an audio recording, or a meeting.

Sometimes it's a new feeling inside you, and sometimes it's a new cycle of events being set in motion. On another occasion, a person isn't inclined to draw conclusions about a new cycle of events connected to being in a particular space. Usually, they don't draw those conclusions. The simplest conclusion a person doesn't draw, a very simple one, for example, is that a great many things in their business or relationships are connected to the city or country they live in. For the most part, a person doesn't directly make that cause-and-effect connection or draw those conclusions. They are very superficial, very abstract. Very abstract, very illusory. We don't truly see what has an enormous, major influence on changes in movement. Some things have a basic influence. The parents who gave birth to you, in any case, have a major, basic influence. Well, we sort of know that, knew it somewhere, or heard it. But some things set something new in motion, something absolutely new. And the person may simply fail to feel it, because they don't hear time and non-time simultaneously. Trust, and learn to live for a long time in a state of freedom. Don't look for freedom just once, five years from now, for ten minutes. See you next time!